Professor Elam

Sunday Jan 24, 2010

Yesterday we remarked that the Express News has expressed serious concern about the viability not to mention fiscal responsibility of the Museo Alameda. 

I suggested in my Nov 23, 2009 post that there are multiple museums in San Antonio that would have served a Latin Culture purpose just as well, and sure enough today's Express News in the SA Life Section makes that point. The Institute of Texan Culture literally sits in the Shadow of the Tower of the Americas, built for the 1968 Hemisfair here. It currently features an exhibit Race Are We so Different? My point being that this is a successful museum doing what museums are supposed to do, offer exhibits about culture!

 At left is Luis Jimenez's 1997 lithograph El Corazon Lowrider, a gift from UTSA President Romo to the McNay Museum. Note what the Mcnay Curator of Prints and Drawings has to say. "We've become more and more active in colecting Mexican American are.  It's a logicla step for us becasuee we have such a rich collection of Mexican art and contemporary graphics."

Well there you have it, Latin Culture is alive and well at multiple locations in SA. 

Now, gearhead that I am , it is always interesting when artists stay 'true' to the original. Let's examine this lowrider for a moment. It appears to be a 1957 Buick Special or Super, the lower model in the line evidenced by only three not four portholes on the front fender. But it is a true hardtop without the center post between the side windows. The owner has installed roll and tuck upholstery, a favorite of 1950s hot rodders. Note the 'Baby Moon' hubcaps.  Dean Moon in Souther California established Moon Speed Equipment in 1950. His products achieved icon status, as evidenced by their inclusion in this painting. those are 'lake pipes' exiting under the front fenders, a way to make a statement about the exhaust system.   And of course the owner has topped all this off in a non factory color scheme, what is that Kandy Kolored Kranberry maybe?

Those students seeking to learn more about this era might do well to read the Tom Wolfe's classic,

The Kandy Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby. This was one of the first essays that catapulted Wolfe to the top as the American writer of the last half century. It tells the story of the Southern California Hot Rod Culture.